Growing optimism that nuclear deal can be revived

Key players locked in talks over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal suggested that progress had been made towards ending the stand-off between the US and Iran.

After days of negotiation in the Austrian capital Vienna, Iran’s lead negotiator said discussions were on the right track, echoing a cautious sense of optimism among the EU and other signatories that an agreement could be reached.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi spoke of a “new understanding” but said the path to a breakthrough would still be difficult.

“Too soon to predict the result,” he tweeted. “Expert groups continue their hard work of clarifying important questions.”

His comments injected a sense of impetus into a process stalled by the attack on Iran’s Natanz plant, which Tehran blamed on Israel.

US President Joe Biden criticised the attack but said it would not derail the talks in a further sign of a progress in returning to an agreement struck by Barack Obama.

The deal lifted sanctions on the Iranian economy in return for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mr Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018. Subsequent sanctions and military action led to a worsening in relations between the two countries.

In 2019, Iran responded to the US withdrawal by gradually increasing its enrichment of uranium beyond the limit of 3.67 per cent agreed to in the deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Saturday that Iran had started enriching uranium to 60 per cent, a step closer to weapons grade of 80 to 90 per cent.

Tehran insists it will be used for medical purposes only.

Mr Biden pledged to return the US to the 2015 accord, but his administration is reluctant to remove sanctions all at once, something Iran insists Washington must do.

EU negotiator Enrique Mora said it was important that all parties were committed to seeing the US rejoin the accord and that it was fully introduced by both sides.

He said more detailed work was needed. “Progress has been made in a far from easy task,” he said.

The EU, Russia and China urged Iran and the US to revive the deal.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said talks would continue as negotiators agreed to “not waste time” and reached a successful outcome “as soon as possible.”